Chapter 6: THE LESSONS OF LOVE

V. The Lessons of the Holy Spirit

A. To Have, Give All to All

1 When your
body and your ego and your dreams are gone, you will know that you
will last forever. Perhaps you think this is accomplished through
death, but nothing is accomplished through death, because death is
nothing. Everything is accomplished through life, and life is of the
mind and in the mind. The body neither lives nor dies, because it
cannot contain you who are life. If we share the same mind, you can
overcome death because I did. Death is an attempt to resolve conflict
by not deciding at all. Like any other impossible solution the ego
attempts, it will not work.

2 God did not
make the body, because it is destructible, and therefore not of the
Kingdom. The body is the symbol of what you think you are. It is
clearly a separation device, and therefore does not exist. The Holy
Spirit, as always, takes what you have made and translates it into a
learning device. Again as always, He reinterprets what the ego uses
as an argument for separation into a demonstration against it. If the
mind can heal the body, but the body cannot heal the mind, then the
mind must be stronger than the body. Every miracle demonstrates
this.

3 I have said
that the Holy Spirit is the motivation for miracles. He always tells
you that only the mind is real, because only the mind can be shared.
The body is separate, and therefore cannot be part of you. To be of
one mind is meaningful, but to be one body is meaningless. By the
laws of mind, then, the body is meaningless.

4 To the Holy
Spirit, there is no order of difficulty in miracles. This is familiar
enough to you by now, but it has not yet become believable.
Therefore, you do not understand it and cannot use it. We have too
much to accomplish on behalf of the Kingdom to let this crucial
concept slip away. It is a real foundation stone of the thought
system I teach and want you to teach. You cannot perform miracles
without believing it, because it is a belief in perfect equality.
Only one equal gift can be offered to the equal Sons of God, and that
is full appreciation. Nothing more and nothing less. Without a range
order of difficulty is meaningless, and there must be no range in
what you offer to your brother.

5 The Holy
Spirit, Who leads to God, translates communication into being, just
as He ultimately translates perception into knowledge. You do not
lose what you communicate. The ego uses the body for attack, for
pleasure and for pride. The insanity of this perception makes it a
fearful one indeed. The Holy Spirit sees the body only as a means of
communication, and because communicating is sharing it becomes
communion. Perhaps you think that fear as well as love can be
communicated; and therefore can be shared. Yet this is not so real as
it may appear. Those who communicate fear are promoting attack, and
attack always breaks communication, making it impossible. Egos do
join together in temporary allegiance, but always for what each one
can get separately. The Holy Spirit communicates only what
each one can give to all. He never takes anything back, because He
wants you to keep it. Therefore, His teaching begins with the
lesson:

6 This is a
very preliminary step, and the only one you must take for yourself.
It is not even necessary that you complete the step yourself, but it
is necessary that you turn in that direction. Having chosen to go
that way, you place yourself in charge of the journey, where you and
only you must remain. This step may appear to exacerbate conflict
rather than resolve it, because it is the beginning step in reversing
your perception and turning it right-side up. This conflicts with the
upside-down perception you have not yet abandoned, or the change in
direction would not have been necessary. Some remain at this step for
a long time, experiencing very acute conflict. At this point they may
try to accept the conflict, rather than take the next step towards
its resolution. Having taken the first step, however, they will be
helped. Once they have chosen what they cannot complete alone, they
are no longer alone.